Main image via Forbes
For the past couple of years, Forbes has listed Kylie Jenner on its annual billionaires list. The cosmetic-mogul has even enjoyed being named the youngest billionaire in the world during this time.
However, Forbes has now revoked Kylie’s billionaire status and accused her family of inflating the value of her cosmetic business.
Image via Forbes
When Kylie was first declared a billionaire in 2018, it created a lot of controversy, especially with the “self-made” title.
“When Kylie’s cover debuted in 2018, our reporter did have some doubts about the numbers her camp was claiming,” Forbes said. “We were provided with proof like tax returns that Kylie herself had signed. Plus analyst and industry experts verified what Kylie’s camp was saying - that her business was doing 300 million in revenue every year.”
“While we can’t prove that the tax returns that Jenner sent us were fake, we’re pretty sure now that they were and regardless, it’s clear, that for years, the Jenners had been lying,” the publication continued in.
Image via Forbes
Known for its widely cited billionaire rankings, Forbes had credited Kylie’s billionaire status to the success of her cosmetics company which she founded in 2015 and includes Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie Skin.
In November 2019, Kylie seemingly erased all doubts that she wasn’t a billionaire by selling a 51% stake of her company to beauty giant Coty for $600 million, effectively valuing the business at about $1.2 billion.
Forbes noted that the “family’s accountant had provided it with tax returns that suggested the firm had done more than $300 million in sales in 2016 and that publicists claimed sales of $330 million the following year,” BBC writes.
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Now however, information shared by Coty – which is publicly traded, shows that “Kylie’s business is significantly smaller, and less profitable, than the family has spent years leading the cosmetics industry and media outlets, including Forbes, to believe,” Forbes wrote.
The publications went on to state that the Jenner family had gone to “unusual lengths” to present Kylie as richer than she was.
Presenting itself to investors, Coty suggested that the firm only did $125 million in sales in 2018.
“If Kylie Cosmetics did $125 million in sales in 2018, how could it have done $307 million in 2016 (as the company’s supposed tax returns state) or $330 million in 2017?” Forbes posed the question.
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Kylie of course has taken to Twitter to dismiss Forbes’ article stating that it was based on “inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions.”
The cosmetics mogul released a series of tweets addressing the issue with the first one saying:
“what am I even waking up to. I thought this was a reputable site.. all I see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. I’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. Period.”
“ ‘even creating tax returns that were likely forged’ that’s your proof? So you just THOUGHT they were forged? Like actually what am I reading,” she said in a second tweet.
Kylie then quickly goes on to brush the whole matter off by tweeting:
“but okay. I am blessed beyond my years, I have a beautiful daughter, and a succesful business and I’m doing perfectly fine.”
“I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have,” she added.
While Kylie’s billionaire title may have been stripped, it doesn’t mean that she’s not still living the life.
According to Forbes, Kylie pocketed $340 million from the sale of her business to Coty. The publication now estimates that her net worth is “just under $900m.”
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While we can’t be 100% sure of who is at fault here, there’s one thing Kylie’s got right… There are a 100 things more important than fixating on her wealth…
Click HERE to read the full Forbes article.
Info via BBC